Method of closing containers



Oct. 24, 1939. I H. LEONARD r AL 2,176,996

METHOD OF CLOSING CONTAINERS Filed Jan. 18, 1938 2 sheets-sheet 1 Oct. 24, 1939. H. H. LEONARD ET AL METHOD OF CLOSING CONTAINERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 18, 1958" INVENTORS IIERBERTIfiLEaNARP no m:- r/v ORE BY ATTORNZ? Patented Oct. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,176,996 METHOD or CLOSING com-mas Application January'18, 1938, Serial No. 185,502

14 Claims.

The present invention relates to the formation of a closure for flexible containers and, more particularly, to the formation of a closure upon the open end offilled paper bags.

In the packaging of finely divided and pulverulent materials it is desirable to form a closure which will effectively prevent the escape of such materials.

Certain materials are subject to deterioration or loss of desirable characteristics upon exposure to air or to'moisture or to contaminating substances with which air may be laden. In the packaging of such materials, it is desirable to form a closure which will eflectively prevent the II ingress of air to the contents.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a closure having the desirable characteristics above set forth.

-It is a further object of this invention to form 20 a closure having the desirable characteristics above set forth which may be readily formed by manual manipulation or by the operation of suitable automatic machinery.

Other and further objects of the present inu vention will become more apparent from a consideration of the following description taken in connection with the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification.

In the drawings,

80 Fig. 1 illustrates an open ended filled container of the type which may be closed according to our invention; r

v Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 illustrate successive steps in the formation of a closure according to our in- 35 vention;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a container having a completed closure formed thereon in accordance with our invention;

Fig. 7 illustrates a step in the formation of a.

0) modified form of closure according to our invention;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a container upon which a; completed closure of the form illustrated in Fig. 7 has been formed; and

Fig. 9 is a broken perspective view of a container upon which a completed closure of further modified form has been formed.

Similar characters of reference indicate simi- 50 lar parts throughout the several views.

Referring now ,to Fig. 1 of the drawings, [0 indicates the upper portion of a flexible walled container such as a paper bag. The bag is filled to a point adjacent its mouth with material Ii.

3 The portion of the bag Ill extending above the line of contents ll comprises oppositely disposed wall portions l2, l3 and i4, i5, respectively.

In the formation of a closure upon the bag illustrated in Fig. 1, the wall I2 is folded inwardly and down upon the upper surface of the 6 contents H. The folding of the wall l2 will cause portions of the walls I4 and i5 to fold inwardly and upon themselves along angularly disposed lines it and H, as seen in Fig. 2.

The wall l3 may now be folded inwardly and 1 down upon the contents H and upon the upper surface of the folded wall l2. As seen in Fig.

3, the folding of the wall i3 will cause portions of the walls l4 and IE to be folded inwardly upon themselves along the lines i8 and I9. It will also be seen in Fig. 3 that the wall I 3 overlaps a substantial portion of the wall l2 and to this end it is of course necessary that the level of contents il shall be sufficiently below the mouth of the bag to leave ample material for overlapping. It will also be seen that the portions of walls i4 and I5, which are folded with the wall i 3, will overlap those portions of the walls I l and I5 which have been folded with the wall I2.

In order to secure the walls l2 and I 3 in their overlapped relationship upon the top of contents II, a suitable adhesive 20 may be applied to the upper surface of wall l2, as shown in Fig. 2. The overlapping portions of the walls l4 and I5 may be secured by adhesive 2i applied to a suitable area of the portions of the walls l4 and i5 which are folded with the wall I 2.

When the walls have been folded and secured in the positions shown in Fig. 3, it will be seen that the walls I4 and I5 have been formed into flaps 22 and 23 having bodies of generally triangular configuration defined by the lines It, I8 and I1, i9, respectively. At the upper tip or extremity of each of the flaps 22 and 23 there will be an opening 24- which communicates directly with the contents of the bag. If the flaps 22 and 23 are simply folded down upon the upper surface of the bag, these openings will form passageways through which the contents of the bag may escape or through which air may 'have access the flaps 22 and 23. 'Thefolded portions of the li flaps 22 and 23 are brought into contact with the base portions thereof and the tips of the flaps are allowed to contact the upper surface of the bag and, accordingly, to fold reentrantly upon themselves along the lines 21 and 28, as seen in Fig. 5.

The reentrantly folded flaps 22 and 23 may now be folded inwardly and down upon the upper surface of the bag into the position shown in Fig. 6. A suitable adhesive 29 may be applied to the inner surfaces of the flaps, as seen in Fig.

5, in order to secure the flaps in the final position illustrated in Fig. 6.

From a consideration of Figs. 4, 5 and 6 it will be seen that the passageway extending from the openings 24 to the contents II has been folded upon itself in reversely disposed directions and that such folds are adhesively secured in flattened condition. This folding of the passageway will form an effective barrier to the escape of material and to the access of air to the material. I

From an inspection of Fig. 6 it will be apparentthat the openings 24 in the tips of the flaps 22 and 23 are confined between the flap bodies and the body of the bag and are completely surrounded by adhesively secured surfaces "which form an effective barrier to the escape of material from the openings as well as the access of air to the openings. I

The closure above described may be manually formed or may be formed upon suitable automatic machinery. In either event the filled bag may be.supported in any convenient manner. If so desired, the supporting means may be designed to square or otherwise shape the walls of the bag body in a predetermined manner.

In Figs. 7 and 8 we have illustrated a modified form of closurehaving the desirable features set forth as objects of our invention. In this form of our invention the flaps 22 and 23 are formed 7 as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The extreme portions of the flaps 22 and'23 are folded or doubled inwmdly upon the bodies of the flaps along lines 30 and 3| located adjacent the tips of the flaps. The folded flap tips may be-creased along the lines 30 and 3| in order to form a barrier in the From a consideration of Fig. 8, it will be apparent that the openings 24 in the extremities of the flaps are confined between the bodies of the flaps and the body of the bag and are surrounded by adhesively secured surfaces which form an eifective barrier to the egress of material therefrom and to the ingress of air therethrough. v

In Fig. 9 we have illustrated a further modified form of closure having the desirable features set forth as objects of our invention. In this form the flap 23 has been folded outwardly upon itself adjacent the tip. The flap 23 is then folded outwardly along its base and into contact with the body of the bag. The folded tip 33 thus becomes confined between the body of flap 23 and the substantiallyvertical side wall. portions of the bag body. The folded flap 23 may be adhesively secured in the position shown in Fig. 9. While in Fig. 9 we have shown only the flap 23,. it is obvious that the opposite flap such as shown at 22 in Fig. 3 may be similarly folded and secured.

From a consideration of the above description of preferred forms of our invention, it will be apparent that we have provided a closure having the characteristics above set forth as desirable and which achieves the objects of our invention. While the above detailed description has been made in order to comply with the statutes, it is obvious that modifications and variations in form and detail may be resorted to by those skilled in the art. The above detailed description is therefore to be taken in an illustrative rather than in prising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, folding each of said flaps upon itself, and folding said folded flaps upon the overlapped wall portions in the plane of the top oi the contents.

2. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation against the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed fiaps extending outside the area of, the contents, folding each of said flaps upon itself, and folding said folded flaps against the filled portion of thebag.

3. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation against the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps having bodies extending outside the area of the contents-folding the extremities of said flaps upon the bodies thereof, and folding said folded flaps against the filled portion of the bag in such manner as to confine said flap extremities between the bag and the bodies of the flaps.

4. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprisin'g, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into. overlapping relation against the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, folding each of said flaps twice upon itself, and folding said folded flaps against the filled portion of the bag.

5. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, folding each of said flaps twice upon itself, and folding said folded flaps upon the overlapped wall portions in the plane of the anaaoe 3 folds in the extremities of said flaps, and folding said folded flaps upon the overlapped wall portions of the bag in such manner as to confine said fiap' extremities between said overlapped wall portions and the bodies of said flaps.

7. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, folding said flaps along lines generally parallel to the plane of the contents and spaced therefrom at such a distance as to bring the extreme portions of said fiaps into the plane of the top of the contents, and folding the remainder of said fiaps upon said extreme portions and saidoverlapped portions into the plane of the top of the contents.

8. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising,

folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said opposite wall portions in overlapping relation, folding each of said flaps upon itself, folding said folded fiaps upon the overlapped wall portions in the plane of the top of the contents, and adhesively securing said flaps to said overlapped wall portions.

9. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said opposite wall portions in overlapping relation, folding each of said flaps upon itself,.folding said folded flaps upon the overlapped wall portions in the plane of the top of the contents, and adhesively securing said flaps to said overlapped wall portions.

10. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation against the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps having bodies extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said opposite wall 1 portions in overlapping relation, folding the extremities of said fiaps upon the bodies thereof, folding said folded flaps upon the body of the bag in such manner as to confine said fiap extremities between the body of the bag and the bodies of the flaps respectively, and adhesively gouging said flaps against the filled portion of 11. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation againstthe contents of the bag in such manner as to confine said flap extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said wall portions in overlapping relation, foldingeach of said flaps twice upon itself, folding said folded fiaps against the filled portion of the bag, and adhesively securing said flaps to said portion.

12. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said opposite wall portions in overlapping relation, folding each of said fiaps twice upon itself, folding said folded flaps upon the overlapped wall portions into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag, and adhesively securing said fiaps to said overlapped wall portions.

13. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding .opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation against the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps having bodies extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said opposite wall portions in overlapping relation, forming reentrant folds in the extremities of said flaps, folding said folded flaps against the filled portion of the. bag in such manner as to confine said flap extremities between the bag and the bodies of said flaps, and adhesively securing saidflaps to the bag.

14. The method of closing a filled bag having wall portions defining an open mouth comprising, folding opposite wall portions of the bag into overlapping relation into the plane of the top of the contents of the bag in such manner as to form opposed flaps extending outside the area of the contents, adhesively securing said wall portions in overlapping relation, folding said flaps along lines generally parallel to the plane of the contents and spaced therefrom at such a distance as to bring the extreme portions of said flaps into the plane of the top of the contents, folding the remainder of said flaps upon said extreme portions and said overlapped portions into the plane of the top of the contents, and adhesively securing said flaps to said overlapped wall portions.

HERBERT H. LEONARD. ROYAL T. MOORE. 

